Get him nearer to goal.

My biggest disappointed with this team, what saddens me most is every time we've gone in half time either trailing or level we've never come out with intention to step it up and win.   Not even going to include Villa....     First happened at Brighton Then Newcastle Then West Brom THen Southampton Then Utd  and now Burnley   Nothings changed.

He'd be a decent 6 against a top team with 2 good defenders behind him, but not against bus-parking opponents playing on the break and with a makeshift defence. As you say, we're really playing without a 6. Opponents bypass him in that position and he's not mobile enough to fill in for the attacking fullbacks as  Henderson does. He can offer us a lot in games like last might playing much further forward.

But seriously, what are we paying for?  What are we wasting our time and money on by curating u21,u19,u17 etc?  A centre back. That's all we were asking for.  One half decent centre back. 

Does feel like the wheels have come off. The levels of the players and the performances have definitely been circling the drain for a while now but we've managed to keep going through sheer force of will and momentum. Now it looks like that momentum has dried up and we're just left with a tired and somewhat stale squad. It's a shame because I can't help but feel pissed off with the whole situation but these lovely cunts have given me three years of success, effort, desire and outstanding football so channeling my frustration and anger in their direction feels a bit unfair. But then again what else is there to do?   In the early days of Klopp I used to content myself with quite happily seeing a positive team that enjoyed its football and won more often than not, and to a certain extent that's all I'm arsed about: if you're watching a team like that week in week out then you're luckier than the majority of football fans and there's something to build on.   And that's the central problem at the heart of things at the moment (although I do think we'll not look quite so shagged if the form picks up even slightly): the players just don't look like they're enjoying their football. Whether it's to do with the lack of fans or just that they're a bit jaded - either because they've gone 'soft' through success or it's just accumulated fatigue of back to back 90+ point seasons and CL finals - I don't know, but I fear we need two things to truly reach our best level again: the fans back in the stadium, and some relatively significant turnover in the squad (beyond the usual "x or y isn't good enough" - not saying they are, rather I just think we more need some fresh faces with new motivations to rub off on those around them). In short, we need to revolve, not evolve, and we need another Chris Evans on our hands.   Just to add as well. As usual: the referee was fucking shite (how the fuck Alisson following through slightly on Barnes post-touch is a clear penalty but Mee wiping out Mane post-touch isn't is fucking beyond me, and he might as well have kicked off twenty minutes late for all the time he gave Pope for goal kicks), and we just aren't getting the luck (rival deflections are falling kindly for them whilst that Trent cross-shot that Firmino hit at a defender sums up our last month). Not that these excuse the performance, which was rank, but it's yet more obstacles being placed in front of us to overcome.   Hopefully the latter can turn a bit soon and we can go on a bit of a run, get top 4 (the title is gone, I've come to peace with it) and see some surgery in the summer. And I can't be arsed arguing about whether it'll happen or not.